Meet Amanda Thomsen of Kiss My Aster in Palos Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Thomsen.

Amanda, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started working in a garden center in my early 20s, soon I started to blog about what I was doing and learning at work every day. Even though I was just doing it to amuse myself, people started to notice and I was asked to blog for Horticulture magazine. After a while, I left Horticulture to work for Fine Gardening magazine. Then Storey Publishing asked me if I wanted to write a book. It all just happened very organically, excuse the pun!.

All the while, I worked through garden centers and moved into being a horticulturist, landscape designer and project manager at a big landscaping company. I had a ton of hustle until my daughter was born. Then I sort of “retired” to being a freelance writer, speaker, teacher and consultant.

Has it been a smooth road?
It actually has been very smooth. I accredit it to my being a one-trick-pony. I am really good at talking about plants and ideas and getting others excited about them, too. I am pretty lousy at most everything else. I’m not good at marketing, planning, promoting or scheduling myself. I’ve been lucky that my skills fill a big void in my profession, there aren’t other funny, quirky gardeners that are all about saving a buck and getting kids outside. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I did work on those skills I’m so awful at, though!

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Kiss My Aster! story. Tell us more about the business.
Kiss My Aster! Started off as a blog, but now it’s everything I do. Freelance writing, traveling to speak around the country, teaching and consulting. I am really known for shaking things up, being very accessible for everyone and a very odd kind of common sense.

Right now, I’m extra-excited about The Bad Seeds Club, a year-long series of on-line gardening classes aimed at giving busy moms they yard they dream of (but think they are way too busy or broke to have). I’m so excited because moms are my people and they really deserve pretty and productive yards. And their kids need to get outside and hopefully learn where food comes from, too! We have one class a month and then really talk about each member’s goals and how they can be achieved on a small budget and even less time. It’s a great time of year to get some ideas and figure out how to implement them!

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Gardening has to be more accessible to everyone. Not everyone can afford to shop for organic groceries but everyone can grow organic vegetables. It’s just about meeting people where they are at and having solutions ready for every situation. I see school gardens getting big and I love it. Kids will lead their parents to gardening and not the other way around! Hey, I’ll take it!

Contact Info:

• Website: Kissmyaster.com
• Email: asterkissing@gmail.com
• Instagram: @kissmyaster
• Facebook: Facebook.com/kissmyasterblog
• Twitter: @kissmyaster
• Other: Facebook.com/BadSeedsClub

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